Ipswich bring the season's curtain down

Ipswich Town are the visitors to Turf Moor tomorrow as the 2012/13 season comes to an end with Burnley finally safe from any relegation worries.

It's no surprise to see the last game of the season being played at home. This will be the fifth consecutive season that's come to an end with a home game following on from games against Bristol City, Spurs, Cardiff and Bristol City again.

We scored four in the first two, winning both, but the last two have both ended in 1-1 draws, Jay Rodriguez scoring in the Cardiff game two years ago and Danny Ings last year against Bristol City.

It's good to be going into the last game of the season relaxed, knowing that no matter what happens we can't be dragged into the goings on below us now although a couple of weeks there were more worry lines for Burnley fans.

Junior Stanislas could return for David Edgar

Apart from the early part of the season when we did, on one occasion drop into the bottom three, we've been reasonably comfortably placed, but such has been the league that there was always a threat with a bad run.

The four home midweek games against Middlesbrough, Huddersfield, Barnsley and Hull in February and March were frightening but it was the two defeats at Blackpool and Leeds that suddenly brought the serious worries as we dropped to 17th with only three games to play, the lowest position since that early season struggle.

But now, thankfully, we can go into this game with nothing but pride to play for. It's one we want to win to make sure we don't end the season anywhere near those bottom clubs. A win could also see us finish in the top half and could also see us secure more points in the second half of the season than the first half, something we haven't done for thirteen years.

Sean Dyche will have to make two changes to the team that won at Wolves. Michael Duff serves a one match ban having been sent off at Wolves but Kevin Long is expected to be fit and will slot straight back in.

David Edgar is the other absentee. He's back in Canada waiting to become a dad for the first time and the question is who might come in. We could go back to 4-4-2 and that could see Junior Stanislas start, or potentially Ross Wallace.

We can expect to see a couple of the young players on the bench with the most likely being Steven Hewitt and Cameron Howieson who have both just returned from loans at Alfreton and Doncaster respectively.

Ipswich, like Burnley, changed manager during the season. Mick McCarthy arrived at Portman Road two days after Sean Dyche's arrival at Burnley. They were bottom of the league and in a right mess but he's turned it round, helped by a number of signings, and they go into the game ahead of us which is some achievement.

Those signings include such as Richard Stearman (Wolves) and Jay Tabb (Reading) who supplemented three permanent signings during the transfer window.

McCarthy joked on reaching 60 points last week that he wouldn't have taken the job had he known it would require that many points to reach safety, a reflection on the division this season. They've made it and with McCarthy in charge I don't expect them to be down near the bottom next season.

He's hinted at including some young players for the last game and mentioned both Tyrone Mings and Jack Marriott. They are expected to be added to the squad that beat Birmingham last week.

Last season's home game against Ipswich came three days after our dramatic 3-2 win at Hull and proved to be one of our most emphatic performances of the season under an Ipswich side still under the management of Paul Jewell who described his team as looking like a pub team.

Two goals from Chris McCann

It was a sixth successive defeat for an abject Ipswich team but it didn't start too well as we struggled to get a foothold in the game in the opening few minutes, but once Sam Vokes had opened the scoring with his first Burnley goal the game was never in doubt.

Vokes headed home a Keith Treacy corner just past the half hour and just before half time we doubled the lead when Chris McCann turned in a low Junior Stanislas cross from close range.

By the time the third goal came, Ipswich were well beaten. With any luck more goals would have come but for some bad luck, and some last ditch defending. Jay Rodriguez and McCann, our two best players, were running them ragged, and it was just reward when they both got second half goals to complete the scoring.

McCann got his second, in his best performance since his return from injury, with a blinding right foot shot an Jay Rod finished it off with a cool finish after a link up with Stanislas.

That gave Eddie Howe the opportunity to bring on both Zavon Hines and Alex MacDonald but by then Ipswich were a well beaten side and Paul Jewell's future looked to be hanging by a thread. Incredibly he lasted another 11 months.